All You Have is Your Power
by benodite
Summary: Sometimes both of Ken's parents could be a bit... scatterbrained. But they always worked with good intentions and always made up any short comings to him and his sister. Ken's 10th birthday party is no exception. Even if it only meant accepting Ken unconditionally no questions asked. crossposted. past mentions of abuse


Kai trudged into the compound weary as a man home at last from war. Her long black hair had frizzed out and become windswept from a combination of high humidity and a long trip home.

One thing she'd always missed about living full time in the Midwest was the complete lack of humidity. Sure when it got hot, it got hot. She had spent many a summer wishing for for it to drop at least ten degrees or for a little more rain, but that didn't mean anything. The midwest didn't have her husband and babies.

What it did have was her Grandfather.

Wes nods his head to her and heads off to find Max. She'd returned much later than intended, though in all fairness, the weather hadn't exactly been in her favor.

Neither had a certain elderly rogue.

Kai makes sure to double check the security system and re-locks the doors.

Both the kids would be in bed by now. And Kenny's birthday party had been- well, it had been two full days since the party itself. It was just now turning three am. So still two days- three am didn't count as an actual means of telling how many days had passed.

She makes her way to the mess hall more out of habit than any pressing need or desire for anything in there. Ben's sipping at a mug of coffee and reading something off a list on the counter.

So like any loving wife, Kai crept behind her husband and pulled him in for a backwards bear hug. He struggled for a moment before realizing it was her, hand falling away from its position hovering over his Omnitrix.

"Kai, you're home!" Ben sounded pleasantly surprised. As opposed to monumentally pissed.

Kai rubbed her cheek against the nape of his neck, having to stoop over a little. She loved being just a hair taller than her husband but with the both of them wearing their shoes it made the height difference just this side of uncomfortable.

She presses a kiss to the shell of his ear and sighs. Her breath ruffles the start of over grown salt and pepper sideburns.

"What's that?" she tries to take peek at what she can now see is a list, but he pockets the paper.

"You'll find out soon enough."

"Ooh, a mystery."

Ben turns around in her arms to face her, green eyes shining with joy. Sometimes in the private moments they shared it felt like he hadn't lost a bit of childish glee and wonder. Sometimes when the world let up on his shoulders, atlas' smile dripped with sincerity.

I missed you. She doesn't say it but the look in her husbands eyes tells her he knows.

He knows. He always knows.

They share a kiss in the small mess hall.

It's sweet and unrushed and just like coming home. Just like it always is.

"Ken was upset you weren't home in time for his party."

"I tried. I really did. At least I got his present and grandpa here in one piece."

Ben smooths a hand through her long hair, a sympathetic smile tugging at his lips.

"Long trip?"

"You wouldn't believe it."

"Try me?"

And so Kai allowed herself to be swept up in recounting her adventure to and from her Grandfather's home. She did her best to keep quiet. Just to be at a respectable level for the late hour, but even then her voice rose and fell with a wave of emotions.

Ken had adopted her habit of talking with her hands and upped it by twelve. A conversation between the two of them was always fun to watch and at the moment Ben was content to listen.

He lead her back to their room and the couple changed into their night clothes.

"So Animo? He felt the pressing need to unleash a plague of large acid spitting flies. Grandpa and I weren't having that, of course. I've got him in my bag somewhere right now, I better give that to Max tomorrow..." Kai pulled her tank top overhead and changed into a loose pair of running shorts. "I was pissed, he was confused and also trying to keep at it- I think he was off his meds again?" Kai shrugged, popping her neck in the process.

Ben winced at the sound as he crawled into bed.

"He knows better than to start anything around the kids' birthdays. He must've gotten the dates mixed up."

Kai hums in agreement, crawling across the bed to sit next to where her husband lay.

An unknown amount of time passes where Kai only taps quiet beats out on her bare knees. She's sure Ben's asleep, his back is to her and his side rises and falls with deep, even breaths.

"Honey," Ben's drowsy voice snaps her out of her thoughts "I know you wanna go check on the kids, go for it."

"Eh, they don't need their Mother checking in on them... do they?" Kai's words trail off, suddenly unsure of herself.

"You're their Mother, I'm sure neither of them will mind it." Ben's hand smacks out along the covers behind him until he catches on of her hands in his.

"Just go for it." Kai gives his callused hand a reassuring squeeze.

He tries to squeeze back in turn but he's as coordinated as a worm in his current state.

It was a wonder he didn't fall asleep dead on his feet. Without her around his sleeping schedule became a dire matter of planetary security.

She leans down to press a kiss to his cheek and he makes a sleepy kissy mouth at her that has her giggling like a teenager.

He's already snoring by the time she makes it to their bedroom door.

She closes the door as quietly as she can behind her and pads down the hallway to Gwenllian's room.

Her eldest of fifteen had always had a penchant for neatness and order neither of her parents possessed. She took more after the aunt she idolized.

Her room's colored soft blues and oranges. The furthest wall from her bed, next to her closet is taken up by a book shelf three feet wide and it's filled from floor to ceiling with various books.

In the opposite corner of her room she has three sets of weights, twenty five, fifty, and seventy pounds. Next to them is a rolled up yoga mat propped up against the wall.

Her writing desk is just to the left of the automatic doorway. Everything has its place from her pencil case in small drawer above it to her planner in the small book case next to aforementioned drawer.

Her wrist communicator sits charging on her bedside table next to full water bottle and an uneaten granola bar.

For someone so seemingly put together, her daughter's awfully chaotic. Her bed faces the rest of the room head on, the top about two feet away from the wall and either side free of a wall.

Her walls are sparse save for the wall her bed is situated in front of. Directly above her head is a cork board with multiple pictures of her family and friends pinned up and beside that a calendar.

A Plumber's training book is draped over her face as she snores away. She could give her Father a run for his money.

Kai gently removes the book and places Gwenllian's book mark on the correct page.

She leaned down and smoothed the short bangs out of her daughters forehead and kissed the skin just above her eyebrows.

She remembers nearly having a heart attack as she watched her daughter chop off long locks of brown hair into a short bob. She'd officially start her training at the Plumber's academy next year, but to see her do anything to her hair felt like a crime.

She still supported her of course, and continues to do so. If she saved a lock of her daughter's hair for good luck- well Gwenllian knew and had no problem with it. She'd kept a lock of hair from the both of them after their first haircuts.

"Love you, sweetheart." she whispers to her.

Gwenllian doesn't stir.

* * *

She steps into Ken's room next.

His room's more in line with hers and Ben's. A tasteful disaster. Everything had its place, but what determined its order was unorthodox at best. Book shelves filled with comics and history books.

His O-Box has a second controller plugged in for once and the idea of her children playing video games together like old times warms her heart.

Dozens of posters litter his walls ranging from Sumo Slammers to a framed charity poster they had all taken together.

On the one wall untouched by posters he had a climbing wall installed. The hand and foot holds glowed softly in the night. Pulsing. Their presence warmed the room in no way a heater could ever hope to emulate.

Present from his aunt. Go figure.

Above his bed a dream catcher hung.

Now, her son was a sensible boy. And by sensible she meant he had one side of his bed pushed up against a wall.

His steel bed-frame had three drawers on the side for his undergarments and night clothes.

Anything else was hanging up in his closet.

Ken's curled up on his side, head pillowed on his arm.

He doesn't snore like his sister or his Father, but he does do the little restless wheeze breaths she's been told she does. That just meant he had exciting dreams as far as she could tell.

Maybe if she stuck around for awhile longer tonight she'd get to hear him sleep talk again. He was always so cute when he started ranting and raving about absolutely nothing in his sleep.

He was a fine young boy she knew would grow up to do great things.

She scratched lightly at his scalp and he hummed, tilting his head into her gentle ministrations.

She content just to pet her son's soft hair until her eyes catch sight of something bulky strapped on his wrist.

She holds him by the arm and it flips limply like a noodle.

A replica Omnitrix was firmly affixed to her ten year old son's arm.

"Really Ben?" Kai sets Ken's arm back on the bed, conscious not to jolt him. "You couldn't wait until I got back?"

She blows some hair out of her face but lets the issue pass. It was her fault for being late after all.

"There's... enoughh room, we can... share." Kenny's sleepy voice nearly had her jumping had it not been for years spent carefully training to control such impulses.

Still didn't mean her heart didn't race.

She would've thought he had woken up had it not been for his history and the fact that he went back to his little wheeze breaths immediately after, eyelids flickering.

"Sweet dreams, baby."

She bends at the waist to press a kiss to her sons cheek and moves to leave the room but freezes.

Her son never closed the closet door.

She was not helicopter parent by any means and while the urge was mighty, she left the door as it was. Her son didn't appear to be in any danger.

* * *

Upon first impression, Devlin Levin strikes her as the shy, but repressed excitable type. Every time she catches him out of the corner of her eye he's doing something half way. A hand held halfway to his head one second will be back down at his side in the next.

When it comes to their home he'll only enter a room if Ken does so first and after that initial, nearly imperceptible moment of hesitation, he follows suit.

He's polite, though not overly so. He calls her ma'am until she asks him to stop. She's not old enough to be a "ma'am".

He promptly switches to referring to her as Mrs Tennyson and Miss Kai. She knows when to pick her battles.

When he thinks he's alone with her son he's loud and excitable, snickering at nearly every horrible joke Ken tells. Some of them don't land but good taste that does not make.

He's frankly adorable... in an unsettling way. He looked so much like his Father. Or better put, like someone had created another Kevin and set several features to randomize.

It softened his near gaunt face. His nose had a round tip and protruded from his face in a way unlike his father's or Ben's. No matter what angle you looked at him you could see his nostrils. And his eyes. He had startling blue eyes just a few shades shy of being gray. His mouth was a cupids bow where his father had a practically nonexistent upper lip.

He also possessed his Father's dark hair, pale skin, and too big hands.

The resemblance is uncanny and, frankly, undeniable.

But he doesn't give off the same vibe as his Father. Not from what she can tell. He doesn't carry himself like a dead man walking.

She knows when he's older he'll be very handsome. Knows it as fact just as she knows her son will also be handsome.

In her humble opinion he and Gwenllian had both gotten the best genes possible.

* * *

Ken waits patiently until after lunch to start asking about his gifts. A whole hour later than last year. Why he played this waiting game she couldn't fathom, but it took little effort to indulge him.

Without much preamble Grandpa Wes hands him a thick book on human and alien relations that leaves Ken with stars in his pear colored eyes.

Her gift's a little more private.

So Kai pulls him aside, leading him to a separate room, and kneels down to his level.

"Baby, I'm sorry for making you wait so long. Mommy tried to come back on time but there were...a few bumps in the road. You aren't upset, are you?"

Ken shakes his head no.

"It's fine," Ken crosses his arms and looks down at his shoes "...I was only a little bummed out."

Kai lovingly slugs him in the arm, grinning at the small blush darkening his cheeks.

"Chin up. I'm here now. I hope you'll like your gift. It's a family tradition." Kai reaches into her side pouch to pull out a dark green cloth bag.

"It's obviously gotten some upgrades since the tradition started, but I hope you'll like it." Kai hands him his gift.

"Thanks?" Ken's puzzled until the weight hits his palm. His eyes light up with recognition.

"Oh, no way!" Ken pulls the bracelet out of its bag and stares at it in open mouthed wonder.

It's a simple looking affair. A wide, sterling silver band with a seamless appearance to it. It could pop on or off someone's arm just like that but only with intent behind it.

Like a watch, the face was a large piece of raised turquoise nestled between two disks. On the side it had little twin buttons.

"Open it. The one on the right." she prompts and watches with mounting delight as he complies.

A large hologram fills the room and she reaches over him with a small "whoops" reducing the size so it only lights up his face.

"This is the universe. It's a promise. You get it?"

"I see your father went ahead and gave you his piece, but hopefully you won't be opposed to more "jewelry"."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Well, if you don't like it I can always take it back, maybe give it to your future kids..."

Ken gapes at her for a moment before his face flushes again.

"What? No! I love it!"

Kai shoots her son a sly grin.

"You're sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah, totally."

Kai reaches into her side pouch (she refused to call it a fanny pack. Ben and her had had a debate of terminology many times before. She'd die on this hill) and pulls out a second bag.

"I'm sure you know there's more to it than that?"

Ken hasn't blinked in a solid three minutes. If he weren't her son, she'd worry about him.

"Grandpa Wes first got me a bracelet of my own when I was ten. My Mom and Dad were dead by then and for some reason or other, I was feeling the loss terribly then."

"And on your Father and I's tenth anniversary I decided to upgrade my bracelet and get him one of his own. He loved it of course, it's under his arm wraps, so its safe." Kai places the second bracelet into his open palm, curling his stubby fingers around it.

"I gave a pair to your sister for her tenth birthday. And now it's your turn."

Ken reverently runs a finger tip over the turquoise center piece.

"Give it to the person you'll love the most. Ten's this family's lucky number, so make sure it's ten something, ten days, ten week, ten months, ten years. Go for 200 days if you really wanna get funky with your time."

Ken launches at her in a tight hug, limbs shaking with excited energy.

"I'll definitely give this bracelet to someone you can be proud of."

"If you love them I can learn to love them too." Kai pulls free of his embrace and stands.

"Now go play with your friend, kid."

* * *

Thus commences what Ken refers to as the "super sleepover".

Devlin quickly becomes swept up in their domestic life. His position and title of Ken's best friend cemented.

He's hesitant at first and continues to have certain reservations and hangups for who knows how long- years probably.

But they all do their best to make sure he feels at home.

Under her brand of mother affection he flourishes just like Ken and Gwenllian.

She doesn't baby him, instead talking to him at his level. She isn't harsh or needlessly cruel with him. At times she's down right doting with a friendly smattering of teasing.

It takes some time but they fall into a rhythm of ongoing banter.

She knows he's fully integrated when she and him laugh at an inside joke and Ken doesn't get it.

He has his own room just three doors down from Ken but most nights she finds him sharing Ken's bed.

* * *

About a year or so into Devlin's extended stay Kai decides it's time.

She strolls strolls in to the mess hall just as Ben's finished putting the last of the dishes in the dish washer.

Smacks a fifty dollar bill on the counter next to her husband.

And then the stare off commences. Ben's green eyes searching her face. He relents and places a fifty dollar bill of his own on top of hers.

* * *

It's five, nearly six years later (1,998- 1,997 if you wanted to get pedantic about it- days since she first met her son's friend) that Kai catches hint of something glinting on Devlin's wrist. His hoodie sleeves are rolled up his forearms. Kenny's talking his ear off about something or another as they round the corner past her.

He flushes and tries to stick his hands in his front pocket when he notices her gaze.

She presses a finger to her lips in a silent 'shh' motion and tosses him a wink over her shoulder as she continues her merry way.

Ben's half way through a ham sandwich when she places a hand on the table next to him and leans in. Smirk fox like.

Her other hand is held out while she smirks down at him.

Ben groans, letting his sandwich fall to his plate in search of his wallet.

He silently passes her a crisp one hundred dollar bill.

Kai presses a kiss to his cheek. Pours herself a cup of coffee. Then heads out to the atrium to enjoy the weather.

She had a feeling Ken and Devlin would be stopping by to see her later.


End file.
